Immigrants have long faced structural challenges when accessing and thriving within educational systems and academic spaces. These include linguistic barriers, precarious legal status, limited access to financial aid, cultural exclusion, and the emotional toll of navigating institutions not designed for their realities.
Under the current political climate, many of these challenges have intensified due to shifts in immigration policies, tightening of visa regulations, and increasing social and economic precarity for immigrant communities.
In this conversation, we will discuss both the historic and structural dimensions of these barriers and the new challenges emerging today. Bringing together scholars, students, and advocates, we will explore how immigrant communities continue to transform academic spaces, and what possibilities for solidarity, policy change, and institutional transformation might shape the future of higher education.
Panel of scholars, professors, and student(s) from CUNY:
Sunisa Nuonsy
CUNY Peer Leaders Facilitator, Futures Initiative
CUNY PhD Student
Lesly Ramirez Melchor
Baruch College Alumna
CUNY Peer Leaders Alumna
Cynthia Carvajal, PhD
Director of Undocumented and Immigrant Student Programs, CUNY
Lizbeth De La Cruz Santana, PhD
Assistant Professor, Baruch College
